Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ODE ON LORD MACARTNEY'S EMBASSY TO CHINA, by WILLIAM SHEPHERD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ODE ON LORD MACARTNEY'S EMBASSY TO CHINA, by                    
First Line: Swift shot the curlew 'thwart the rising blast
Last Line: Remember afric's woes—and save your destined land.'
Subject(s): Great Britain - Commonwealth & Colonies; British Empire; England - Empire


SWIFT shot the curlew 'thwart the rising blast,
As eve's dun shades enwrapped the billowy main;
Hoarse broke the waves against the sandy waste,
And dim and cheerless swept the drizzling rain:
When bending o'er the briny spray
Stood thy genius, old Cathay,
Her vestments floating on the gale;
With angry glare her eyeballs roll,
Horror shakes her inmost soul,
As thus along the strand swells her portentous wail:

'Athirst for prey, what ruffian band
Dares approach this happy land?
Glimmering through the glooms of eve,
What canvas flutters o'er the wave?
Plunging through the swelling tide,
What prows the whit'ning brine divide?
'Tis Albion's bloody cross that flouts the air,
'Tis Albion's sons that skirt this peaceful shore;
Her cross, oppression's badge, the sign of war;
Her sons that range the world, and peace is seen no more.

'Insatiate spoilers! that, with treach'rous smiles,
In wreaths of olive hide the murderous sword:
Ill fare the tribes, unconscious of your wiles,
Whose honest candour trusts your plighted word.
Hence! ye harbingers of woe—
Too well your deeds of blood I know:
For mid the thickening gloom of night
Oft, as I speed my watchful flight,
A monitory voice I hear—
Keen Sorrow's thrilling cry awakes my list'ning ear.

'A cry resounds from Ganges' flood;
There Oppression's giant brood
Wide the scythe of ruin sweep,
And desolated districts weep.
Terror waves the scourge on high,
Patient Misery heaves the sigh;
Lo! meagre Famine drains the vital springs,
And points from far where yawns the darksome grave;
Her gifts in vain profusive Plenty flings;
Stern Avarice guards the store, nor owns the wish to save.

'From Niger's banks resounds the shriek of woe.
There, inly pining, mourns the hapless slave;
Fraud proudly braves the light with shameless brow,
And floating charnels plough the restless wave.
Behold, in desolate array,
The captives wind their silent way:
Amid the ranks does Pity find
A pair by fond affection joined?
Fell Rapine, reckless of their pain,
Blasts Misery's final hope—denies a common chain.
'Hear, O my sons, the warning cry,
And while you breathe the pitying sigh,
Deep on Memory's tablet trace
These triumphs of Britannia's race.
From age to age, from sire to son,
Let the eternal record run;
And when, with hollow hearts and honeyed tongues,
These slaves of gold advance their blood-stained hand,
Shrink from the touch—Remember India's wrongs—
Remember Afric's woes—and save your destined land.'





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